Background WPV amongst healthcare workers has been reported as a public health challenge across the countries of the world, with more in the developing countries where condition of care and service is very poor. Objectives We aimed to systematically produce empirical evidence on the WPV against health care workers in Africa through the review of relevant literature. Method We sourced for evidence through the following databases: PubMed, Science direct and Scopus from 30 th November to 31 st December 2019 as well as the reference list of the studies included. A total of 22 peer reviewed articles were included in the review (8065 respondents). Quality appraisal of the included studies was assessed using critical appraisal tools for cross-sectional studies. Result Across the studies, diverse but high prevalence of WPV ranging from 9% to 100% was reported with the highest in South Africa (54%–100%) and Egypt (59.7%–86.1%). The common types were verbal, physical, sexual harassment and psychological violence. The correlates of WPV reported were gender, age, shift duty, emergency unit, psychiatric unit, nursing, marital status and others. Various impacts were reported including psychological impacts and desire to quit nursing. Patients and their relatives, the coworkers and supervisors were the mostly reported perpetrators of violence. Doctors were mostly implicated in the sexual violence against nurses. Policy on violence and management strategies were non-existent across the studies. Conclusion High prevalence of WPV against healthcare workers exists in Africa but there is still paucity of research on the subject matter. However, urgent measures like policy formulation and others must be taken to address the WPV as to avert the impact on the healthcare system.

The kidney function status of high fat diet-streptozotocin (HFD-STZ) induced NIDDM in albino rats fed antioxidant supplementation was monitored in vitro. Appropriate and recommended dietary allowed proportions of some potent antioxidant substances including: minerals, vitamins, α-lipoic acid, phytochemicals and a D-ribose-Lcysteine conjugate were assembled together in corn oil and stored at 4°C for use. Kidney function indices were assayed using standard methods, kits and equipments. Data analysis was done with SPSS version 20.0 and significant level was set at p ≤ 0.05. There were a total of five study groups with 10 rats each. Immediately after the induction of diabetes with HFD-STZ combination, treatment commenced and lasted for a total of 12 weeks, and analysis using serum was carried out at the 4 th , 8 th and 12 th week of the study. Results obtained from the kidney function status investigation indicates that there was significant decrease (p ≤ 0.05) in serum urea levels of the treated groups when compared to the controls (normal and diabetic) and this decrease was consistent as the treatment progressed. Serum creatinine, biocarbonate and potassium levels of both the treated and normal control groups where not statistically different (p ≥ 0.05) when compared with the diabetic control group which increased steadily for creatinine and biocarbonate, but inconsistent for potassium level within the treatment duration. However, there was a significant increase (p ≤ 0.05) in serum sodium and chloride levels of the treated and normal control groups, when compared with the diabetic control group respectively. The observed increase was consistent with treatment duration. The results therefore suggest that the antioxidant supplement might have a restorative effect on kidney function and also enhance effective electrolyte balance and control for easy movement of ions across cell membrane.

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